Yelahanka yearns for water

OF all the reasons that could be preventing their access to potable water, residents of Yelahanka New Town believe unscientifically designed valves as the main culprit for unequal distribution of water in the area.

Although the BWSSB gets adequate supply from the GKVK reservoir, residents complain of water pressure and volume being low.

Residents say they get water once every five or six days depending on which lane their house is located in.

“We get water once every five days. For the past one month, we are getting water at night,” Lalitha Ekambaresha, who stays in 4th B Cross, Sector B of Yelahanka New Town, said. Even though the supply lasts for about four hours, the pressure is so low that it does not fill even half a tank. Large families have to depend on tankers.

Fatima Jaan from of 13A Main, Sector A, has to manage with the supply for her 13-member family. Despite having two sumps to collect water, her family buys water from private tankers twice a week.

Similar is the story of Aarti Kumar from 3rd A Cross, Sector A, who buys water from private tankers – 3,000 litres for Rs 150.

“As we are unsure of the quality of water supplied through tankers, we generally use it for non-drinking purposes,” she said.

Tankers make hay

With demand rising, tanker operators have also raised prices, not to mention the delayed delivery. In the last few weeks, a full tank (6,000 litres) is being sold at Rs 300, an increase of Rs 50. N R Krishna, a resident of 11A cross, Sector A, is upset as he gets potable water once a month, while the park opposite his house has enough supply of what he claims “potable water.” “I spend about Rs 3,000 a month on buying water. But the park right outside my house gets water for gardening from the borewell sunk inside

the premises,” he said.

According to Rajappan, secretary, Citizen Forum, all the 54 parks in the area have dedicated borewells. He asked why the BWSSB can’t use treated water for parks. The problem is more severe in Attur Layout. The completely dried up Attur lake has caused havoc in the water table in the area. The poor in some locations are supplied free water in tankers sponsored by Yelahanka MLA, while the rest have to fend for themselves.

Although Thirumala Nagar layout in Attur Layout II stage has a borewell (the third one as the first two did not yield any water), which is 820 feet deep, water is supplied to Chikkadinne or Attur Layout, laments D M Venkatesh, a resident. What is worse is that the residents still get water bill from BWSSB.

“We depend completely on private tankers since most of the borewells in the area have dried up. Nearly 12 borewells in this layout of 40 houses have dried up,” he said.Chandrakanta S, whose family spends about Rs 2,000 a month on water, got a bill from BWSSB for Rs 1,270. The irony – she has not received a single drop of BWSSB water from the BWSSB borewell located in the layout.

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